Read Online Charred by Kate Watterson - Free Book Online Page B

table. “You’re up early.”
    The neutral tone of his voice spoke volumes.
    “I’d love to sleep in.” She meant it. With all her heart. But then again, she was finally working . “The case … I don’t know. I woke up and started to think about it and that was the end of that.”
    The air-conditioning hummed in the background. It was predicted to be another scorcher, highs in the nineties, humidity over the top. The heat wave was apparently determined to hang on. Bryce sat back, extended his long legs, and nodded. “It would keep me awake too if it was my problem.”
    She moodily stared at him across the oak surface between them. The question that had really woken her was on her mind. “Why the hell did he jump?”
    “Matthew … Tobias, is it? Interesting question. Since you asked it, I’m going to guess you don’t think he stuck a body in his house and burned it. Otherwise it would seem pretty clear. He was worried he was going to be arrested for murder.”
    “I don’t think so. I really wouldn’t have suspected, other than investigating in a routine way, that he had anything to do with it. Both he and his wife seemed so shocked.”
    “Good acting?”
    “Superb, if it proves to be the case.”
    He took another sip of coffee. “If he was battling depression, the fire might have literally sent him over the edge.”
    That had occurred to her too, and Bryce had gone through a very acrimonious divorce so he knew a little about depression. She murmured, “Could be. He worked nearby before he was fired. He could have been thinking about it for a while. Maybe it sent him over the edge.”
    “But a good case of the blues isn’t necessarily the fast track to suicide. Jumping, though. Not how I’d choose to go. Any chance he was pushed?”
    Good question. She’d thought of that too, but it really didn’t make much sense. “A chance, I suppose. No witnesses. The medical examiner might be able to tell us something, but a push leaves no trace when you go splat on a sidewalk.”
    Bryce winced, his glass halfway to his mouth. “God, don’t put it that way.”
    “That might have come off a little insensitive. Sorry. He was the one that jumped. Blame him.” She regarded the window, the view of the backyard showing smooth grass and one large oak, shading almost the entire space. “But unless he’s an idiot, why kill someone and put them in your own house and then set it on fire? Hello … you might just be who we look at first. At the least, you know we’ll be all over your background, plus you just burned down your own house.”
    “One would think that would make no sense, but can I point out he jumped off a parking garage? Not a lot of rational thought going on.”
    “I’m not arguing that. He’s clean at first glance anyway. No record, no history to make us think he’s the one, and the insurance from the fire will probably only cover the balance of the mortgage they owe Helton since the market has tanked here like everywhere else. He isn’t a bank, but the documents they signed are still legally binding.” She shrugged, wishing it wasn’t already in the eighties so she could go for a run to clear her head. “There’s no motive. Opportunity, yes. We look at that first. Motive is more tricky.”
    “Sounds like a great way to pass the day.”
    “Versus writing computer software?”
    “Is that a challenge, Detective?”
    She regarded him directly. “No, you are one of the smartest men I know. That said, you use an entirely different part of your brain, so how the hell do I know how hard it is to do what you do? I couldn’t walk around a program like what you design to save my life, but I do know how to find someone like the person who set that fire. More information would be good, but I can deal if it isn’t going to be easy.”
    His mouth quirked into the reluctant smile she loved. Really rare, like a glimpse of a protected species, reserved by him for special occasions only. “I know you